The United Arab Emirates managed to place their "
Hope
"
probe
around the orbit of Mars on Tuesday, becoming the first Arab country to achieve the feat after being held in suspense during the delicate maneuver.
“
To the people of the United Arab Emirates, Arab and Muslim nations, we are announcing the successful entry into orbit around Mars.
Praise be to God
”, solemnly declared Omran Sharaf, the project manager of the mission.
Live from the space center in Dubai, he expressed his relief like the engineers present.
“
What you have accomplished is an honor for your nation.
I want to congratulate you
”, launched Mohammed ben Zayed, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and strong man of the Emirates, rich country of the Gulf.
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The probe, designed to unlock the secrets of the Martian climate, will be the first of three spacecraft due to reach Mars in February.
Besides the Emirates, China and the United States launched missiles in July, taking advantage of a time when Earth and Mars are closest.
The launching of “
Hope
” (“
Amal
” in Arabic, “
Hope
” in French) around Mars coincides with the 50th anniversary in 2021 of the unification of the seven emirates within the federation of the United Arab Emirates.
All the landmarks in the country will be illuminated in red at night.
"
Hope
" began a 27-minute maneuver at 3:30 p.m. GMT (4:30 p.m. KST) of slowing down enough to be pulled by Martian gravity, the most difficult part of the mission, officials said.
The probe turned and ignited its six powerful thrusters to slow its speed from 121,000 km / h to about 18,000 km / h.
"
Twenty-seven blind minutes will determine the fate of seven years of work,
" tweeted earlier this week Sarah al-Amiri, president of the UAE Space Agency and Minister of State for Advanced Technologies.
Data shared around the world
"
This project is very important for the nation, for the whole region and for the world science and space community
," Omran Sharaf told AFP earlier.
According to him, the goal is "
much bigger
" than just reaching Mars.
"
The government wants to bring about a big change in the mindset of the Emirati youth (...) to accelerate the creation of a cutting-edge science and technology sector
," he added.
Read also: Emirates: postponement of the launch of the "Hope" probe to Mars due to bad weather
While the probe is designed to provide a full picture of the planet's weather dynamics, it is also a step towards a much more ambitious goal: the establishment of a human colony on Mars within 100 years.
To mark this historic moment, images of two moons of Mars - Phobos and Deimos - were projected in the sky of Dubai, to make it possible to "
see what the probe sees
", according to the office in charge of the media of the emirate. .
Unlike the Chinese Tianwen-1 and American Mars 2020 missions, “
Hope
” will not land on the Red Planet.
It is due to use three scientific instruments to monitor the Martian atmosphere and is expected to begin transmitting information in September, data that scientists around the world will have access to.
